Lecture at the Dutch Police Academy, Organised Crime

Insider Knowledge, Honestly Shared

On Friday, May 8, Francesco Salerno will be speaking at the Police Academy of the Netherlands in The Hague. He comes to this session as someone who knew the world he describes from the inside, not as an outside observer drawing conclusions from research, but as a man who lived within criminal circles and emerged from them with a perspective that is difficult to find anywhere else.

Francesco grew up in circumstances that drew him into a world where organised crime was a daily reality rather than an abstraction. He witnessed how criminal structures are built and maintained, how decisions are made inside those networks, how loyalty and fear become instruments of control, and how people sustain those structures across years without always fully understanding the machinery they are part of.

During this session at the Police Academy, Francesco will speak directly about that world: its internal logic, the mechanisms that keep people bound to it, and what all of this means for the officers and prosecutors who confront that reality every working day.

He will also address the human dimension behind criminal behaviour. Why people make the choices they make. Which circumstances prove decisive in drawing someone deeper in. How understanding that human logic, rather than simply mapping criminal networks from the outside, can contribute to more effective prevention, smarter enforcement strategies, and sharper conversations between officers and the people they encounter in the field.

Following the session there will be time for questions and open discussion.